Recently this blog noted that the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is off to Rome for the Consistory - papal speak for the occasion when the Catholic Primate Archbishop Sean Brady gets his Cardinal's red hat. Needless to say Ian Paisley is otherwise engaged.
The Secretary of State Shaun Woodward is also going, and the rumour has it that there's a questionmark whether he or Martin McGuinness should be the NI politician who will meet the Pope.
Apparently the Deputy First is keen to make the acquaintance of Pope Benedict XVI. But his best hope of getting to the Pope is as the BRITISH representative at the occasion. That tends to involve arriving at the Vatican in a car bedecked with a Union Jack.
My spies tell me taking a taxi is not de rigueur. If anyone spots a Stormont Skoda boarding a ferry in the coming days, it might be Martin working on an alternative solution to his papal/union flag dilemma.
When the Stormont triangle of Robinson-McGimpsey-Robinson first came into existence I knew in my bones there would be trouble. And so it came to pass this lunchtime, when Willie Hay suspended Iris Robinson from the Stormont building for a day.
The eviction follows a fortnight of rumbling discontent between the Robinsons and Minister McGimpsey. First the Health Minister didn't hide his dissapointment with Peter Robinson's budget. Then the Finance Minister pointed out that Health was getting 48% of his entire resources.
The Health Minister said he had only signed up to the budget as a draft intended for further consultation. Then the Chair of the Health Committee aka the Wife of the Finance Minister accused the Health Minister of misleading the Assembly.
That led to complaints from Ulster Unionists who believed the remark effectively accused their man of being a liar.
Today the Speaker ruled the comment "unparliamentary" and demanded that Mrs Robinson withdraw it. She refused and then became the first MLA to be "named". That means she was ordered out of Stormont and its precincts for the day. Accompanied by an Assembly Security Guard, she made her way out of the buiding.
I don't know where Iris has gone for her lunch but those who followed the Stormont proceedings of 16th October will know that she is a devotee of Daisies cafe in the grounds of the Ards Hospital.
I'm 